HGTV’s Design Star returns without viewer vote but with new judges

One of my two favorite summer competition series, HGTV’s Design Star, returns tonight for its fourth season at 10 p.m. ET. Like Food Network’s Next Food Network Star, the competition awards its winner a show on the network, but for the first three seasons, HGTV’s version let the public select its new star. This year, they’ve taken that away, leaving the decision up to the judges. Viewers will get to vote, however, for someone to get their own online show.

Also new this season: Judges Cynthia Rowley and Martha McCully, who were pretty decent reality show judges, are out, replaced by former Trading Spaces designer Genevieve Gorder and Devine Design’s Candice Olson. Alas, the show retains the annoying editing of the judges’ deliberation, which excludes the names of the people they’re actually talking about, so their decision-making is never fully explained to viewers, which is totally dumb.

Also appearing this year will be a number of celebrities, including Kathy Griffin, whose spare room will be part of one of the challenges. Those challenges are always inventive and actually great tests of the designers’ skills, and unlike most competitions, they give their designers multiple days to complete them (although that never seems to decrease the pressure). If you missed the first three seasons, full episodes of all three seasons are on HGTV.com.

Anyway, this season’s first episode is definitely as consistently strong as every previous season, starting with the now-traditional challenge that has the contestants designing their own living space. That house is an amazing Hollywood mansion that Frank Sinatra once lived in, and that has hosted both Mad Men and Marilyn Monroe’s final photo shoot. It’s a great setting for a great series. Here’s a preview:

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about Andy Dehnart

Andy Dehnart’s writing and criticism about television, culture, and media has appeared on NPR and in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Pacific Standard, and other publications. He has covered reality television for more than 18 years, and created reality blurred in 2000.

A member of the Television Critics Association, Andy, 40, directs the journalism program at Stetson University in Florida, where he teaches creative nonfiction and journalism. He has an M.F.A. in nonfiction writing and literature from Bennington College. More about reality blurred and Andy.

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about reality blurred

reality blurred is your guide to the world of reality TV and unscripted entertainment, with reality show reviews, news, and analysis. It was created in 2000 by Andy Dehnart. He's still writing and publishing it today.

reality blurred is regularly updated with highlights from the world of reality TV: news and analysis; behind-the-scenes reports; interviews with reality TV show cast members and producers; and recaps and reviews of these reality TV shows, including Survivor, Big Brother, The Great British Baking Show, Shark Tank, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor, Project Runway, Dancing with the Stars, Top Chef, and many more.